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North Raleigh Post 297 ended Garner Post 232's season with a 4-2 victory on Friday night, giving Post 297 a 3-1 series victory.

She went to Julliard and played viola in Mozart’s motherland, but she was best known for her muffins, staff writer Jesse DeConto writes in this Sunday's Chapel Hill News.

Margaret Alice Middleton died last month, just three weeks shy of her 65th birthday. From 1987 to 1997, “Maggie” and her life partner Jane Hamborsky built a business from selling muffins at the Carrboro Farmer’s Market to running Maggie’s Cafe & Espresso Bar, a European-style eatery famous for Jane’s espresso milkshakes and Maggie’s chicken salad sandwiches.

“She got her juniper berries from Yugoslavia for that,” Jane said this week. “She was real picky about what went into it. The juniper berries were her magical little secret that a lot of people wouldn’t even think of.”

Maggie fought off cancer beginning in 1998, but a recent MRI found a tumor on her spine. Hamborsky said she died of a heart attack in her sleep. A celebration of life service and funeral will be held at 3 p.m. on her birthday, Friday, July 10, at Chapel of the Cross.

Read more about Maggie in Sunday's Chapel Hill News. 

Here's a look at tomorrow's headlines:

(But first, read tomorrow's N&O for stories on the first day of the Eno Festival and a follow-up to staff writer Stanley Chambers' story on the shooting of a Durham police officer Thursday. These stories came too late to get into the Saturday Durham News).

LET THE FILING BEGIN: It's shaping up to be a quiet municipal election season. Of course you never know until the actual filing begins. One name we'll be watching for? Donald Hughes. The son of former Councilwoman Jackie Wagstaff has been a rumored candidate. It will be interesting to see if he makes it official.

WATTS HAPPENING: (Darn, I wish I thought of that headline yesterday.) Read staff writer Jim Wise's story on the 60th anniversary of the Watts Hospital-Hillandale Independence Day Parade. A slice of Americana so pure one booster dares you attend without a tear in your eye. 

BLUES TICKETS: Organizers of the Bull Durham Blues Festival have extended their early ticket discount. When I asked why, they said "You know why." It's the economy, of course. So buy your tickets Saturday or Monday. You'll save 10 to 20 bucks and support a hometown cause. (I looooved headliner Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" when I was in high school.) 

BRONTO REDUX: I don't know if the Museum of Life and Science is shielding well-connected names as some of my more cynical colleagues surmise. I do know the museum started as a children's museum and still has the best interests of young people at heart -- even if some of those young people took a hack saw or a chainsaw or a really big knife to the beloved bronto on Ellerbe Creek.

There's plenty more, including Minister Paul Scott on why black people should not celebrate July Fourth and Flo Johnston on faith. And cartoonist Dennis Draughon gets a chuckle out of Coach K's promise to never, ever leave Duke.

I'm seeing "Jersey Boys" tomorrow! Have a great Fourth.

And thanks for reading,

Mark   

With a public memorial service for Michael Jackson set for Tuesday in Los Angeles, the accompanying remembrance service in Raleigh is back on.

"Yes, we are going forward with it," says co-organizer Bruce Lightner. Originally, Jackson's funeral was going to happen today at his Neverland complex in California. But that was canceled after county officials declined to issue the necessary permits. So local organizers also canceled the Raleigh event, which had been set for 2 p.m. today at Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek.

Now the local program is happening at the Raleigh Convention Center, starting at noon Tuesday with an hour of performances by the Martin Luther King All-Children's Choir and other groups. A video feed of the funeral services at Los Angeles' Staples Center will take center stage at 1 p.m., simulcast on video screens in the convention center.

Admission is $5 to cover expenses. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday at the Raleigh Convention Center box office, and also at the Progress Energy Center box office.

That cheesburger and fries may be doing more harm than to your waistline.

On his blog Leading from the Left, Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson laments the county board's recent failure to ban new drive-thru windows in its jurisdiction.

Sure, they’re convenient. But when a car idles for an hour, Nelson says, it emits nearly 4 lbs of CO2. “Of course, we don't idle our cars for an hour at any one time. But add up how many cars are idling in line at a fast-food restaurant the next time you drive past or at the bank.”

The proposed ban failed by a 3-4 vote. Nelson, Bernadette Pellisier and Alice Gordon voted for the proposal. After the vote failed, Commissioner Barry Jacobs moved to discuss the matter again in the fall and requested additional information.

"He may eventually vote for a ban, so the battle is not yet lost,” Nelson says.

You can't be at the pool/beach/park/slippy-slide all the time, so here are some 4th of July TV viewing options.

Marathons!
Nothing says holiday weekend like TV marathons, and we love it when someone does all the work for us. The blog Interesting Pile (a highly addictive blog that compiles random lists like 7 great sci-fi chase scenes and 12 disturbing vintage ads) has put together a list of TV marathons this weekend, including our favorite holiday standby, "Law & Order." But some other marathons caught our eye, too: "Martin," James Bond, "Ice Road Truckers," "The Cake Boss," "Twilight Zone," and many others.  

Capital Fourth
Jimmy Smits hosts the "Nation's Capital Independence Day Celebration" at 8pm on PBS/UNC-TV. Live from the West Lawn of the US Capital, the special features a concert with Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Michael Feinstein, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Sesame Street gang, and more.

Macy's Fireworks
Fireworks on the 4th from New York City featuring performances by Rob Thomas, Jewel, and the cast of "West Side Story." NBC at 9pm.

Local Fireworks!
News 14 Carolina will broadcast both the NC State Fair fireworks and the Uptown Charlotte fireworks live Saturday night. Starting around 9:15pm, the Raleigh fireworks begin, and then "Red, White, and Boom! 2009" (Charlotte gave theirs a name!! Come on, Raleigh!) will start from the Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. Avoid traffic, watch 'em both from your couch, and decide who has the best.

Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular
Craig Ferguson hosts the Charles River celebration Saturday night, featuring Neil Diamond performing with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Finale has fireworks accompanied by "1812 Overture." CBS at 10pm.

I go away on one week's furlough and my gym and the Varsity both close ... I'm trying out Carolina Fitness this week (what do people think of it?), but what am I gonna do about my movie venues?

Bryan Grossman, a former Varsity employee and 2009 UNC poli sci grad wrote to us after our recent coverage of the downtown movie theater. He says he thinks a downtown theater can still work and that owner Bruce Stone could have done more to keep it going.

"I feel as though a lot of the reasons for its financial demise have been overlooked," he writes. "There are some simple reasons why people did not attend movies there more often. I don't think it is really an issue of arthouse vs. non arthouse."

Here are his suggestions for what we now have to hope will be a new owner: 

1. Accept credit cards
2. Promote films playing there (if only through fliers around town).
3. Use the space for more events that the business owner could rent out.
4. Better compensate employees (at least get something beyond the measly tip glass)                                                 5. Encourage more friendly service.
6. Truly gauge which movies will work in the area and which will not.
7. Have an open house poster sale and advertise this sale throughout town.

What do you think? In the age of Netflix and buck-a-flick boxes at Harris Teeter, can downtown Chapel Hill support a movie theater? Tell us and if we get enough signed responses we'll print them in a future issue.